A VALUE of nearly &#xA3;1bn has been put on the property portfolio of Cardiff County Council.

The valuation, involving more than 1,000 buildings, was carried out by property agents Cooke and Arkwright and took two years to complete.

The Cardiff-based firm worked closely with the council on the project for one of the biggest valuation programmes undertaken in the council's history and also the largest in Wales.

City Hall, County Hall, the Mansion House, New Theatre, Central Library, Saint David's Hall, the Magistrates' Court, and some of Cardiff's biggest hotels were among those properties valued.

According to Selby Milner of Cooke & Arkwright, Cardiff Castle was the most challenging to value.

Mr Milner said, "It was a great challenge to value buildings like County Hall and especially the castle because they are very unusual.

"We had to value the buildings for what they are worth as assets and also take into account the many important wall paintings, marble and decorated tiles for insurance valuation. For the castle, the assessment was compared with Windsor Castle, which had to be refurbished following the fire.

"Cardiff might even prove more difficult to replace in some ways than Windsor, because the rooms are much smaller and there is actually more variety in detail."

The council provided information and plans relating to each property and lease details from their database.

The valuations were worked out by Cooke & Arkwright by a pre-determined method agreed with the council, following detailed inspection and site visits.

Cardiff County Council's deputy leader Paul Cubitt said, "This was very much a team effort.

"It was quite an innovative approach with the surveyors coming in and using our computer system and working in partnership with our offices.

"Once each valuation was signed off the details were entered into the council's database providing us with an updated record of every building the authority owns."